polliwog

Whhyyyyyy would you spend that much time to do that?

Go look at portfolios in person? Maybe that'll help you decide. I don't know if the vibe of a place matters to you, but it might sway me if I'm truly stuck between several amazing people. Waiting means you get to save money. :cool: Doing shorter sessions as a newbie is probably a good idea, and is another way to deal with the expense.

This isn't the line work, but I'm a novice at getting tattooed, also. The first thing that stood out to me in the portfolio that you posted there was the shading - it looks really patchy once you spend time looking at expertly colored tattoos. Just one place to start training your eye.

I can understand not being able to respond to all emails, and forgetting that you've been in touch with someone, but the stop-and-go contact is puzzling. Why not just make up an excuse if you're not into the client's tattoo idea, if you don't want to say that outright? Disclaimer: I'm not an artist (well, not a good one) and I don't have a stereotypically artistic temperament, other than being late for everything and sleeping at stupid hours. I also work with a public who would pitch a shit fit if I weren't 100 percent nice about even the stupidest things, so I'm used to prostrating myself before the people who make me money... /cranky

Who's the artist for that one? I like those simple Japanese tattoos.

I dunno about the creative/disorganized thing. I've met enough prompt, organized creative people to be suspicious of that as an excuse.

This is really cool.

Oh, and now Chelsea Shoneck, too. I really want a platypus tattoo someday, and I think she's the one to do it. Since a platypus already looks like one of her hybrid animals, anyway.

I have bad skin on my upper arms no matter what I do (KP, which sometimes can look like a zit). Part of my motivation in getting tattooed there, to be honest. It didn't seem to affect healing at all. Some of the, er, least conventionally attractive bodies have some of the loveliest tattoos.

I was just thinking about fox tattoos when this resurfaced (due to listening to the Julian Cope song about Reynard the Fox) Wendy Pham Kiku

Oy. What is it with cranky receptionists? I have a customer service job, too - it's not that hard to be polite, and you're not king of the castle. Unless you've been told to chase away business or something. I understand the need to sort of patrol for lurking kids/jerks, but you're not either of those things.

Also: relax! You seem like you want to listen to her, so you'll be fine. :) You're a client who's put thought into what she wants to get and what you like seems to go with her style - I'm sure she gets stupider questions from people who have no idea what they want all the time...

I had a literary tattoo idea the other day for Alan Garner's book "Red Shift" - I'm not big on wordy tattoos, but I think you could do something nice with the motif from that book ("not really now not any more") and the castle on Mow Cop in Cheshire, where the book takes place. Sort of in the vein of Ron Wells's recent R'lyeh tattoo, maybe. The problem with a lot of literary tattoos seems to be: too many words, and an image that's really obvious. Just show-offy and gross. Ultimately I can't really imagine wanting something as potentially transient as a favorite book tattoo - something that's a cool visual nod to love of books probably would be better. I'm loving Seth Wood right now and am thinking about when I can commit to a sleeve w/him.

I'm a bookseller and may get a book related tattoo one day. A lot of literary tattoos are sort of terrible, though.

I think my favorite part of that thing might be the perfect ass roses. The competition is basically over now, though, right?

Does anyone have post-tattoo food recommendations for Providence? I used to go there all the time when my grandparents lived there, but I have no idea what's good now. Bars that serve good food count, too.

'MURICA!

Looking at Ron Wells's work from the Philadelphia convention and feeling ridiculously excited about seeing him... Instagram ::explodes::

Nope. I hope I don't offend anyone here, but I also have mixed feelings about people who achieve extensive coverage at a really young age. Mostly because I don't usually see heavily-tattooed early 20somethings where the good work outweighs the bad, unless they themselves are tattooers. When I see 18 year old girls with terrible chest pieces that they think make them look sexy, my heart sort of hurts for them. I guess that makes me one of the olds.

Edited because it didn't need to exist/can't delete it. Carry on!

The only tattoo I have at the moment is some old art, though it isn't entirely faithful to the original drawing. It was a reassuring choice for a first tattoo, my logic being that if it was still worth looking at 100 years after its creation, it was OK to put on my body (which is probably why a lot of people choose old art for tattoos), and it's really not well-known unless you're digging around in the Charles Rennie Mackintosh archives, but I don't think I'll go that route again - I think I would want to use art references a bit less literally. Just read an unfortunate essay by a young lady wanted to get a tattoo of an illustration by [famous tattoo artist] and claimed to have found the ideal person to do it. Guess who it wasn't. A lot of this stuff wouldn't have been obvious to me prior to joining this board, either. It's frightening how little information reaches so many people who are getting tattooed...

Currently, Seth Wood.

Anyone who can draw hands well has my respect and envy.

Apologies if this already exists; I couldn't find it... Hands holding things, realistic hands, etc. They're a bit of a mixed bag for me - some of them I like, some are too twee. (See also: animals wearing clothing). Here's one that inspired me to start this thread: by Amanda Abbott (Still getting the hang of images on here.)

The only band tattoo I can imagine getting would be a Fall tattoo. Don't know what it would be, but their significance goes beyond being a favorite band - they basically explain the last decade of my life, even though they're at a low ebb at the moment, musically. I would stop short of doing this, though: Is That Mark E. Smith on Your Trapezius? | Bleader | Chicago Reader